Friday, December 16, 2011

Fat Friday Feature: Chris Squire Of Yes On "I've Seen All Good People"

As regular readers of the blog know, every Friday I feature a bass player or bass part that is exemplary. Which is to say the part and the player kick ass. Today, it's Yes's Chris Squire.

I love Chris Squire's tone almost as much as I love his aggressive, in the pocket playing. Of course, I'm a huge fan of the Rickenbacker bass, the bass that Squire played a large part in popularizing. Few showcase the strengths of that bass as well as Chris Squire. His lines are loud and serpentine, wrapping around the music, binding it together. The sound is meaty and in front - just the way I like it for electric bass. There's a couple of great live takes of this tune on You Tube; I selected this one because it is less "proggy" and more "garagey" - this is probably about as "raw" as Yes gets. Still, it'll get your feet tapping.